rHE THE LATE GERER REBBE r,"YT an appreciation BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN defusing the crisis THE CONVENTIONAL YESHIVA notes AND KIRUV RECHOKIM by a baal teshuva RABBI YAAKOV CULi champion THE MEAM LOEZ of the common man BOOKS IN REVIEW LETTERS TO THE EDITOR @ 7T in this issue The Late Gerer Rebbe ':i"!l!T, Menachem Lubinsky .......................... 3 Crisis in Parent-Children Relations, Aaron Brafman ..................... 10 Coming Closer: The Conventional Yeshiva and "Kiruv Rechokim," Avrohom Henfield ................................................... 15 Rabbi Yaakov Culi, the "MeAm Loez," Aryeh Kaplan ................. 18 Shir Shel Shavuos, a poem .................................................................... 22 THE JEWISH OBSERVER is publis,hed monthly, except July and August, Cataloguing Jewish Life, Elchonon Oberstein .................................. 24 by the Agudath Israel of America, S Beekman St., New York, N.Y. Books in Review 10038. 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Typography by Compu-Scribe • D Enclose gift card D Biil me: $.......... D Enclosed: $ ... -... .. at ArrScrofl Studios, Ltd. ..---------------· humanity to flood Jerusalem's streets in tribute to this man in just three-four hours? The range of the representation is staggering. And so is the contrast they present ... the faces: The obviously Chassidic bachurim and yungeleit, whose every expres­ sion and gesture bespeak devotion to Torah and Chassidus . .. Middle-aged men, elegantly dressed in modern attire, tears flowing down their cheeks, un­ wiped . .. .Jerusalem natives, in full Me'ah Shearim garb, white chrocheted skull-huggers peeking out from beneath their black velour hats, the gravity of genera­ tions weighing down their features . ... The young Sabra generation, representing the Yeshiva! Tichoniot, much in evidence - heads usually cocked audaciously, crowned by kipot s'rugot, now hung low . .. .And so many plain Jews, who bear no particular stamp of af­ filiation. A glance upward, and the eye sweeps over balconies and rooftops, crowded with yet more Jews . ... The rich bouquet of Sephardic Jews of all hues and shades, the mix that only Jerusalem can boast ... mothers with their young, some huddling infants in their arms. One look around, and it is obvious that they are not spectators at all, but fellow mourners grieved over the terrible irreparable loss. (from a description by Moshe Prager, featured in Maariv) It was the response of those who had known him as Rebbe ... of others who had found in him the deep con­ cern of a father - their father ... of still others who saw Where did all these people come from? What drove in him a re builder of shattered people and communities them to crowd the streets? ... of yet others who had appreciated the leadership role It is barely 4 p.m. The radio had broadcast the bleak he had assumed in the affairs of religious Jewry in the tidings at noon. To all except the closest, the news was Holy Land - in Agudath Israel, Chinuch Atzmai. ... totally unexpected. The morning papers surely had no But primarily it was the instinctive response of every mention of the Gerer Rebbe's passing. Even the more Jew to the trauma of losing a great man. All knew the popular afternoon dailies did not report it. Who, then, loss and felt its pangs with an immediacy that drove amassed this crowd of 100,000 mourners - or 200,000, them into the streets to mourn - both the simple Jew as police estimated them? who could not point to more than the simple fact, the What contact did these tens of thousands of Jews "Ma zos," and those who knew: Those who savored have with Gerer Chassidus, or with the late Rebbe? the fine points of Kotzk, how they were perpetuated for They never caught a glimpse of his features on the TV four generations of Ger, only to be destroyed; and then screen - he kept himself as removed from the instru­ rebuilt again in the Holy Land. How the specifics of Ger ment as he would from fire. Radio? His few chosen - the fierce devotion to Torah, the uncompromising words were never squandered on radio frequencies. The pursuit of truth, the jealous watching of minutes, the papers seldom reported his activities - his entire careful training of the youth, the sparing of the words demeanor was in total opposition to the games of - how they were all recreated by this prince of Ger. publicity-seeking. So what triggered this flow of They live on, but he is gone. The Jewish Observer I April, 1977 3 Menachem Lubinsky The Gerer Rebbe Ger - A Dynasty of Torah and Chassidus succeeded him. He was known by the title of his com­ mentaries on Torah and Talmud, Sfas Emes (Truthful The late Gerer Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Alter, ,Jt Speech), which are basic volumes in every Talmudic nJ,J7 P',~, was scion of a family of nobility, and heir scholar's library.• Indeed, Ger is renowned for its to a demanding Chassidic tradition that had its spiritual emphasis on Tor ah learning, for all of the Gerer Rebbes source in the fountains of unadulterated truth that were also leading Torah scholars in their generation. flowed from Parshys'che and Kotzk. His son and successor, Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai An impoverished Jew came to the Kotzker Reb­ Alter, continued in this tradition. He had amassed a be and begged him, "Help me! I haven't a bit of huge library of seforim. There were those that claimed food to feed my family!" that most of the books were superfluous, for he had "That's not a problem. Just daven to Hashem committed their contents to m~mory in his first perusal. with em es." During a visit to Berlin, he inspected the "But I don't know how to daven with emes." private library of a bibliophile. His host took out "Then you do have a serious problem!" an old sefer, whose author was unknown to him Kotzk was not known for miracles. In its pursuit of - both the title page and first page of the work truth - in Torah study, in life, in avodas Hashem - were missing. Reb Avrohom Mordechai asked there was no time for miracles. But the truth that permission to take the sefer to his room and his emerged from Kotzk was indeed miraculous. host readily agreed. The following day the sefer Rabbi Yitzchok Meir, disciple of Kotzk, was the first was returned with the title page and first page - Rebbe of Ger. His penetrating Chidushei HaRim on written in by hand. Talmud is widely studied. His thirteen children had died during his lifetime. His grandson, Reb Arye Leib, *The great Rabbi of Sochachov son-in-law of the sainted Kotzker, author of the Avnei Nezer, is said to have maintained two bookcases, one for Rishonim (earlier commentators) and another for the RABBI LUBINSKY is director of Project COPE, Agudath Israel's Acharonim (later ones). The volumes of the Sfas Emes, written at the manpower project. His article on "Orthodox Vocational Guidance - turn of the century, were found to be amongst the Rishonim . ... To ls There a Need?" was featured in the June '76 edition of JO. He is a study some portions of the Talmud without the Sfas Emes is un­ member of a family with a long association with Gerer Chassidus. thinkable to the modern day scholar. 4 The Jewish Observer/ April, 1977 He is said to have left dozens of volumes of his own of kedoshim were his wife, their son and daughter, and written commentary, which were never recovered from 1 their families. the destruction of World War II. At the time of his father's passing, Jerusalem was un­ der siege. Despite the threatening Arab armies and the Reb Avrohom Mordechai was extremely reluc­ terrible food shortages, Chutz L'Oretz was only a tant to assume the leadership of Gerer Chassidus, memory, never to be considered as an option for escape deeming himself inadequate to the assignment. - not for himself, nor for others .... To a Rov, a " 'He who commanded oil to burn can